Thursday, May 21, 2009

The fifth inning Wednesday evening at Fenway Park was a mighty good one for the home team as Boston slammed four home runs and scored six times to break open a 2-0 game. Yes, Big Papi David Ortiz FINALLy hit one out...he slammed a fat pitch into the centerfield camera well as the crowd stood and roared and Papi double-pointed to the Big Guy upstairs. The elated slumping slugger also had a wall double. Will this kind of performance start a Papi resurgence? We all hope so. He said this after Boston's 8-3 victory...

“I feel good, man, I feel like I just got that big ol’ monkey off my back,” Ortiz said. “In this game sometimes that’s all it takes, to have a good at-bat, to get a good hit, and then everything starts clicking. I was missing pitches I normally hit, or sometimes put a good swing on it and still miss. That’s crazy, it gets you thinking,” Ortiz said. “It puts you in a situation where you’re thinking, ‘What do I have to do?’ I’ll try it all. I was about to hit right-handed.”

No you weren't, Papi. Jason Varitek, who had a pair of taters, had this to say about his large and now very happy teammate...

“David will hit, it’s not a question of if he can hit,” said catcher Jason Varitek, whose pair of home runs including one to start the pivotal fifth inning, were left in the shadows by Ortiz’ center-stage moment. “Everyone’s human. You run across points in your life where things aren’t necessarily easy. I think it’s big we had our fans get behind him. It was a pretty electric moment for David.”

As 'Tek said, the Fenway crowd was especially excited and they let Papi know it. BIGTIME. When that ball met the camera well, the roar was deafening. David knew it as he gleefully circled the bases. Brad Penny pitched well again, going six and two thirds innings while giving up two runs and nine hits. He earned his fourth victory against a lone defeat and has held down the five spot in the rotation admirably. The 'pen took over from there with Delcarmen and Bard, who surrendered his first run of the season in his first ever Fenway mound appearance. Okajima, who's been unstoppable so far in '09 and Saito made the win official.

That makes it two in a row over the (for now) first place Jays. The Yankees continue to emerge victorious, winning their seventh in a row, all since AROD returned to the lineup. Their only weakness that I can see so far is their bullpen. That might be their Achilles Heel...let's hope so.

Tonight at the Fens, Jon Lester will face the 1-1 Robert Ray as they try to sweep Toronto out of town, way out of town. The first pitch will be thrown at 7:10pm EDT. The Mets are their next foe, but that's a post for tomorrow. Click on this post's title for more on last night's long ball win and as always, BE WELL. Thanks for popping in and I'd love to read and respond to your comments. Have a great Thursday. See ya...soon, real soon. Promise

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